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Nonprofits · head to head

Bonterra vs CiviCRM

Bonterra logo

Bonterra

Nonprofits

The rolled-up parent of EveryAction, Apricot, CyberGrants and Network for Good, sold as three product lines

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
CiviCRM logo

CiviCRM

Nonprofits

Open source constituent relationship management for nonprofits, with no per contact or per donation fee

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only CiviCRM has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Bonterra the three lines are separately acquired codebases, so buying two of them gives you two logins, two support queues and a connector rather than one system.; CiviCRM nobody maintains it for you, so security patches and major version upgrades are your operational responsibility and organisations that skip them end up stranded on an old release.
  • They diverge on capability: Bonterra covers Fundraising and engagement, CiviCRM covers Contribution and pledge tracking.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bonterra and CiviCRM actually diverge.

Attributes where Bonterra and CiviCRM differ
AttributeBonterraCiviCRM
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Linux, Self-hosted

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Nonprofits).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Bonterra

  • Fundraising and engagement
  • Corporate grantmaking
  • Employee giving and volunteering
  • Outcomes reporting
  • Impact data connectors

Only in CiviCRM

  • Contribution and pledge tracking
  • Membership management
  • Events and registration
  • CMS integration
  • Extension framework

Both cover

  • Case management

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bonterra

  • A human services agency that must report participant outcomes to a government funder and cannot do it in a donor CRMnot CiviCRM
  • A national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor recordnot CiviCRM
  • A large employer running a global employee match and grant disbursement programme across many countriesnot CiviCRM
  • A nonprofit consolidating a legacy Salsa or ETO deployment onto a supported product within the same vendornot CiviCRM

CiviCRM

  • A membership organisation with a large contact file that refuses to pay a per contact meternot Bonterra
  • An advocacy group needing to hold constituent data on infrastructure it controlsnot Bonterra
  • A charity already running Drupal or WordPress that wants CRM inside the same stacknot Bonterra
  • An organisation with unusual data requirements that no hosted product will build for itnot Bonterra

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bonterra

  • The three lines are separately acquired codebases, so buying two of them gives you two logins, two support queues and a connector rather than one system.
  • Legacy products absorbed in the roll-up, notably ETO and older Salsa modules, receive limited development while investment goes to flagship products, leaving those customers on a slowly ageing platform.
  • No pricing is published for any line, and quotes vary widely by contact count and negotiation, so benchmarking against competitors requires a full sales cycle.
  • Private equity ownership has produced repeated renewal price increases reported by customers, and the portfolio structure reduces the credibility of threatening to switch since several obvious alternatives are also Bonterra products.
  • Implementation for Case Management is a configuration project measured in months, and agencies routinely underestimate the internal staff time required to define forms and outcome measures.

CiviCRM

  • Nobody maintains it for you, so security patches and major version upgrades are your operational responsibility and organisations that skip them end up stranded on an old release.
  • The interface and configuration model are dated compared with hosted competitors, and staff turnover is expensive when the next fundraiser has to be trained on it from scratch.
  • Extension quality is inconsistent, so a payment processor or integration that works on one version can break on the next with no vendor obligation to fix it.
  • Total cost of ownership is genuinely low only at scale, and a five person charity often pays more to a partner for setup and support than a hosted product would have charged outright.
  • Implementation partners hold the practical knowledge of your configuration, so switching partners can be as disruptive as switching products despite the software being free.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bonterra

On request
  • Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement$undefined/year
    • Donor CRM and email
    • Advocacy and organising tools
    • Priced by contact record count
  • Bonterra Case Management$undefined/year
    • Apricot participant records and assessments
    • Outcomes and funder reporting
    • Priced by user seats and programme count
  • Bonterra Corporate Social Responsibility$undefined/year
    • CyberGrants grant disbursement
    • Employee giving and volunteering
    • Enterprise contract, priced by programme spend

CiviCRM

Free
  • CiviCRMFree
    • No licence fee, no per contact charge and no percentage of donations
    • Costs are hosting, implementation partner time and upgrade work
    • Paid hosting and support available from partners at their own rates

Which should you pick?

Choose Bonterra if

  • You need fundraising and engagement.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want corporate grantmaking.
Bonterra review

Choose CiviCRM if

  • You need contribution and pledge tracking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want membership management.
CiviCRM review

Questions people ask

Is Bonterra or CiviCRM better?
Neither clearly leads. Bonterra starts at On request and CiviCRM at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bonterra or CiviCRM?
CiviCRM has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Bonterra and Free for CiviCRM.
Does Bonterra or CiviCRM run on more platforms?
Bonterra runs on Web, iOS, Android. CiviCRM runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use CiviCRM for free?
Yes. CiviCRM has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Bonterra starts at On request.
What is Bonterra best used for?
Bonterra is most often used for a human services agency that must report participant outcomes to a government funder and cannot do it in a donor crm, a national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor record, a large employer running a global employee match and grant disbursement programme across many countries, a nonprofit consolidating a legacy salsa or eto deployment onto a supported product within the same vendor. Of those, a human services agency that must report participant outcomes to a government funder and cannot do it in a donor crm and a national advocacy organisation needing high-volume email, action alerts and distributed organising in one donor record are not what CiviCRM is typically brought in for.
What can Bonterra do that CiviCRM cannot?
Bonterra covers Fundraising and engagement, Corporate grantmaking, Employee giving and volunteering, Outcomes reporting. CiviCRM covers Contribution and pledge tracking, Membership management, Events and registration, CMS integration. Both handle Case management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bonterra: Is Bonterra a single product?

No. It is three product lines built from separately acquired software. You buy one of them, and integration between them is a connector rather than a shared database.

CiviCRM: Is CiviCRM really free?

The software is, with no licence, per contact or per donation charge. Hosting, implementation and support are real costs and are where the budget goes.

Bonterra: What happened to EveryAction and Apricot?

They still exist as the underlying products, rebranded as Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement and Bonterra Case Management respectively.

CiviCRM: Do we need a developer?

You need technical capacity, either in house or a retained partner. Treating it as a hosted product without support is the common failure mode.

Bonterra: Does Bonterra publish pricing?

No line has published pricing. Fundraising is generally priced by contact record count, case management by seats and programmes.

CiviCRM: Where does it win against commercial CRMs?

At scale. A large contact file or high donation volume that would cost tens of thousands a year in metered fees costs nothing in licence here.

Bonterra: Should a small nonprofit consider Bonterra?

Rarely. The entry price and implementation effort suit organisations with dedicated operations staff; smaller charities are better served by a single-product CRM.

CiviCRM: Can it be hosted for us?

Yes, several partners offer managed CiviCRM hosting, which removes the upgrade burden and reintroduces a monthly fee.

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